Daijiworld Media Network – Karkala

Karkala, Aug 8: Hotels across Karnataka that serve substandard or health-hazardous food will face action as per the law, health and district-in-charge minister U T Khader said on Saturday, stressing that providing safe, quality food to customers is the responsibility of every hotel.

Responding to reporters’ questions in Karkala about the ongoing inspections of pubs and hotels in Bengaluru and the enforcement drives by the Food Safety Department, Khader said inspections would continue across the state in the interest of public health.

“It is the responsibility of hotels to provide quality food to customers who pay for their meals. Taking money from people and serving them substandard food is not right,” he said, adding that no situation should arise where people fall ill and end up being hospitalised after consuming food.

Khader stressed that taste alone should not determine food choices. “Taste is not the only thing that matters; eating healthy food is important,” he said, advising people to cultivate the habit of eating home-cooked food as far as possible.

He said people also need to become more conscious of the quality of the food they consume, particularly as various health problems are increasingly being linked to dietary habits.

Creating public awareness about harmful substances in food, including the use of toxic chemicals, is one of the key objectives of the Food Safety Department’s enforcement operations, he said.

Khader reiterated that food safety inspections would continue across Karnataka, with authorities keeping a close watch on hotels and other establishments in the interest of public health.